1st Edition

Statistics, Public Debate and the State, 1800–1945 A Social, Political and Intellectual History of Numbers

By Jean-Guy Prevost, Jean-Pierre Beaud Copyright 2012
    256 Pages
    by Routledge

    256 Pages
    by Routledge

    Based around a number of illustrative case studies, this book charts the development of our modern-day reliance on statistics. Topics covered include scientific innovations, administrative issues and the use of numbers in politics. By looking at these aspects of statistics together, the authors are able to present a truly original work.

    Introduction; Chapter 1 Percentages and the Emergence of Statistical Objectivity; Chapter 2 The Republic of Numbers: Robert Gourlay and the Art of the Statistical Account; Chapter 3 Adolphe Quetelet and the Expanded Reproduction of 'Statistism'; Chapter 4 Form as Content: The Establishment of National Statistical Systems; Chapter 5 Immigration and Population Growth: an American Statistical Controversy; Chapter 6 The Epitaph of Imperial Statistics; Chapter 7 Statistical Expertise and the Twilight of Liberal Italy; Chapter 8 Politics of the Sampling Revolution;

    Biography

    Jean-Guy Prevost, Jean-Pierre Beaud